An operations manager at McCormick Place Convention Center in Chicago faces federal fraud charges. Dominick Gironda is accused of receiving kickbacks from a snowplow service vendor. Employed by the Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, Gironda managed vendor contracts for McCormick Place.
The indictment, unsealed in U.S. District Court in Chicago, alleges that Gironda collaborated with James Sansone to approve inflated invoices for services not rendered. These invoices reportedly included compensation for non-existent workers and unused equipment.
According to the indictment, after approving full payment of these false invoices, cash was returned to Sansone, who then shared it with Gironda. From 2022 until earlier this year, they allegedly received approximately $26,700 in kickbacks. The indictment also notes that coded language referring to kickback payments as "bottles of wine" was used in their communications.
Gironda, 54, from Bloomingdale, Illinois, and Sansone, 38, from Batavia, Illinois, were arrested this morning. Both are scheduled for initial appearances today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Sheila M. Finnegan—Gironda at 2:00 p.m., followed by Sansone at 2:15 p.m. They face three counts of mail fraud each carrying a potential sentence of up to 20 years in federal prison.
The announcement came from Morris Pasqual, Acting United States Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois and Douglas S. DePodesta, Special Agent-in-Charge of the FBI's Chicago Field Office. Assistant U.S. Attorneys Sushma Raju and Richard Rothblatt represent the government.
It is important to note that an indictment is not evidence of guilt; defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt.